Forced landing technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles : towards safer operations

While using unmanned systems in combat is not new, what will be new in the foreseeable future is how such systems are used and integrated in the civilian space. The potential use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in civil and commercial applications is becoming a fact, and is receiving considerable attention by industry and the research community. The majority of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles performing civilian tasks are restricted to flying only in segregated space, and not within the National Airspace. The areas that UAVs are restricted to flying in are typically not above populated areas, which in turn are the areas most useful for civilian applications. The reasoning behind the current restrictions is mainly due to the fact that current UAV technologies are not able to demonstrate an Equivalent Level of Safety to manned aircraft, particularly in the case of an engine failure which would require an emergency or forced landing. This chapter will preset and guide the reader through a number of developments that would facilitate the integration of UAVs into the National Airspace. Algorithms for UAV Sense-and-Avoid and Force Landings are recognized as two major enabling technologies that will allow the integration of UAVs in the civilian airspace. The following sections will describe some of the techniques that are currently being tested at the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA), which places emphasis on the detection of candidate landing sites using computer vision, the planning of the descent path trajectory for the UAV, and the decision making process behind the selection of the final landing site.

The waddlia genome: A window into chlamydial biology

Growing evidence suggests that a novel member of the Chlamydiales order, Waddlia chondrophila, is a potential agent of miscarriage in humans and abortion in ruminants. Due to the lack of genetic tools to manipulate chlamydia, genomic analysis is proving to be the most incisive tool in stimulating investigations into the biology of these obligate intracellular bacteria. 454/Roche and Solexa/Illumina technologies were thus used to sequence and assemble de novo the full genome of the first representative of the Waddliaceae family, W. chondrophila. The bacteria possesses a 2′116′312bp chromosome and a 15′593 bp low-copy number plasmid that might integrate into the bacterial chromosome. The Waddlia genome displays numerous repeated sequences indicating different genome dynamics from classical chlamydia which almost completely lack repetitive elements. Moreover, W. chondrophila exhibits many virulence factors also present in classical chlamydia, including a functional type III secretion system, but also a large complement of specific factors for resistance to host or environmental stresses. Large families of outer membrane proteins were identified indicating that these highly immunogenic proteins are not Chlamydiaceae specific and might have been present in their last common ancestor. Enhanced metabolic capability for the synthesis of nucleotides, amino acids, lipids and other co-factors suggests that the common ancestor of the modern Chlamydiales may have been less dependent on their eukaryotic host. The fine-detailed analysis of biosynthetic pathways brings us closer to possibly developing a synthetic medium to grow W. chondrophila, a critical step in the development of genetic tools. As a whole, the availability of the W. chondrophila genome opens new possibilities in Chlamydiales research, providing new insights into the evolution of members of the order Chlamydiales and the biology of the Waddliaceae.

Different inflections

Australia has often been defined by its landscape – actual, romanticized, imagined – iconic images and experiences taken up by artists in a myriad of ways. This paper examines inter/intra cultural practices of three Australian dance companies and their directors, and how they inflect images of Australia in different ways. Each artist brings perspectives from their particular hybridized cultural and ethnic backgrounds as well as their formative dance experiences. In their practices, notions of landscape embrace physical, metaphorical and spiritual dimensions. Kai Tai Chan, who founded the One Extra Company in 1976, pioneered accessible and confronting intercultural dance theatre in Australia from the 1970s to the 1990s, challenging our notions of what it is to be Australian. A Chinese Malay who came to Australia to study architecture, he stayed to create a significant body of work in which different cultural frameworks became lenses through which to explore stories of ordinary lives and experiences, revealing complexities of the human condition and larger social-political issues. Spiritual connections feature strongly in the practice of another Chinese Malay Australian, Tony Yap. Here the landscape is an inner one influenced by a form of Malaysian trance dance known as the sen-siao (“spirit cloud”) tradition. Yap has forged a unique space in the Australian dance and theatre scene, exploring a movement language informed by psycho-physical research, Asian shamanistic trance dance, Butoh, voice and visual design. Whilst primarily a solo performer, his practice includes collaborations with Asian diasporic as well as Anglo Australian cross-cultural visual and sound artists. His work is situated in a metaphysical rather than socio political context. In contrast, the newest company to emerge on the intercultural Australian stage is Polytoxic, reflecting a Pacific rather than Asian inflection. Key members, Fa’alafi and Efeso Fa’anana (both of Samoan descent) and Leah Shelton (of Anglo-Saxon descent), aim to critique the exoticism and cultural kitsch that often accompanies representations of the Pacific islands, with a pastiche of street dance, cabaret and contemporary techniques, blended with traditional Polynesian vocabulary. A parallel aim is to provide audiences with insights into the traditions and history of Samoa from the perspective of the artists as contemporary Australians. This examination, spanning three decades of inter/intra cultural practices, reveals stylistic, generational and philosophical differences with a commonality of variously inflected notions of landscape, spirituality and identity.

Community beliefs about intentional injury and responsibility for prevention

Community beliefs related to intentional injury inflicted by others were examined in a population-based telephone survey (n= 1032) in Queensland, Australia. Young adults 18-24 years were nominated as the most likely to be intentionally injured. 89.1% of respondents nominating this group believed that the injury incidents occur in alcohol environments. Though respondents from this age group also identified 18-24 yo as most likely to be intentionally injured, this was at a significantly lower level than did parents or 25-64 yo respondents. Responsibility for preventing injuries was placed on proprietors of licensed premises, schools and parents/family of the victim for alcohol, school and home environments respectively. Beliefs were aligned with prevalence data on intentional injury demonstrating a high level of awareness in the community about likely victims and situations where intentional injuries occur. Interventions could target families of young adults to capitalize on high levels of awareness about young adult vulnerability.

Malay Kingship in Kedah : Religion, Trade, and Society

The book probes and examines traditional sources of royal power and control, as well as indigenous socio-political systems in the Malay world. It is focused on the north-western Malaysian Sultanate of Kedah which is acknowledged as the oldest unbroken independent kingship line in the ‘Malay and Islamic world’ with 1,000 years of history. Little scholarly attention has been paid to its pre-modern history, society, religion, system of government and unique geographic situation, potentially controlling both land and sea lines of communication into the remainder of Southeast Asia. It will thus provide the first comprehensive treatment in English, or other languages, on Kedah’s pre-modern and nineteenth century historiography and can provide a foundation for comparative studies of the various Malay states which is presently lacking. The proposed book also sheds much needed light on a range of important topics in Malay history including: Kedah and the northern Melaka Straits history, colonial expansion and rivalry, Southeast Asian history and politics, interregional migration and the influence of the sea peoples or orang laut, traditional Malay socio-political and economic life, Islamic influences and the course of Thai-Malay relations. The book attempts to offer a new understanding, not only of Kedah, but of the political and cultural development of the entire Malay world and of its relationships with the broader forces in both its continental and maritime settings. It argues that Kedah does not seem to follow, and in fact, often seems to contradict what has been commonly been accepted as the “typical model” of the traditional Malay state. Thus it concludes that the ruling dynasty has historically exploited a wide range of unique environmental conditions, local traditions, global spiritual trends and economic forces to preserve and strengthen its political position. The scope and theme of book The Kedah Sultanate is the oldest unbroken independent kingship lines in the “Malay world” with 1,000 years of history, and arguably one of the oldest in the Islamic world. In this study I examine key geopolitical and spiritual attributes of Malay kingship that have traditionally cemented the ruler, the peoples, and the environment. Brief description of the primary audience for the book: There is little written in English or Malay on Kedah’s pre twentieth century history. The available sources only look at certain aspects of Kedah’s history, are outdated or are confined to a specific period often outside the scope of the book. It is therefore anticipated that the readership and market for the book includes: • Scholars of Southeast Asian history, Islam, kingship, trade. • Academics & Historians (including: Asian, Thai history, Islamic, Maritime, Persian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Colonial) • Libraries • Students, particularly those in Malaysia (especially the states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang), Thailand and Singapore. • Universities • Scholars and students in Political Science & International Relations

A generic implementation framework for stereo matching algorithms

Traditional area-based matching techniques make use of similarity metrics such as the Sum of Absolute Differences(SAD), Sum of Squared Differences (SSD) and Normalised Cross Correlation (NCC). Non-parametric matching algorithms such as the rank and census rely on the relative ordering of pixel values rather than the pixels themselves as a similarity measure. Both traditional area-based and non-parametric stereo matching techniques have an algorithmic structure which is amenable to fast hardware realisation. This investigation undertakes a performance assessment of these two families of algorithms for robustness to radiometric distortion and random noise. A generic implementation framework is presented for the stereo matching problem and the relative hardware requirements for the various metrics investigated.

Observed family interaction and outcome in patients with first-admission psychoses

Families of 52 first-admission patients diagnosed with a severe psychiatric disorder were videotaped interacting with the patient. Behavioral coding was used to derive several indices of interaction: base rates of positive and negative behavior by patients and relatives, cumulative affect of patients and relatives (the difference between the rates of positive and negative behaviors), and classification of families as affect-regulated or unregulated. Family-affect regulation reflects positive cumulative affect by both people in a given interaction. Six months after hospital discharge patients were assessed on occurrence of relapse, global functioning, severity of psychiatric symptoms, and quality of life. Relative to affect-unregulated family interaction, affect-regulated interaction predicted significantly fewer relapses, better global functioning, fewer positive and negative psychiatric symptoms, and higher patient quality of life. Most of the predictions by family-affect regulation were independent of

Business process variability modeling : A survey

It is common for organizations to maintain multiple variants of a given business process, such as multiple sales processes for different products or multiple bookkeeping processes for different countries. Conventional business process modeling languages do not explicitly support the representation of such families of process variants. This gap triggered significant research efforts over the past decade leading to an array of approaches to business process variability modeling. This survey examines existing approaches in this field based on a common set of criteria and illustrates their key concepts using a running example. The analysis shows that existing approaches are characterized by the fact that they extend a conventional process mod- eling language with constructs that make it able to capture customizable process models. A customizable process model represents a family of process variants in a way that each variant can be derived by adding or deleting fragments according to configuration parameters or according to a domain model. The survey puts into evidence an abundance of customizable process modeling languages, embodying a diverse set of con- structs. In contrast, there is comparatively little tool support for analyzing and constructing customizable process models, as well as a scarcity of empirical evaluations of languages in the field.

Family coping: issues and challenges for cancer nursing

A large body of research now exists suggesting that families are dramatically affected by a diagnosis of cancer, and that they have a wide range of support needs. In particular, evidence suggests that the emotional strains of living with a family member who has cancer are an especially difficult coping challenge, and that such strains have a significant impact on the day-to-day lives of family members. Despite this evidence, there has been little analysis to date on the nature of the families' experience with cancer and what implications the unique features of family relationships and interactions in the context of cancer have for nursing practice. Some of these specific features of the families' experience with cancer are examined in this article. It is suggested that enormous scope exists for improving nurses' contribution to care for families of people with cancer. Specific recommendations for achieving such improvements include a critical review of the constraints that exist on efforts to care for families, and the development of approaches to care that appreciate the interconnectedness of family responses and the considerable needs of family members for emotional and practical support.

Adapting Lyubashevsky's signature schemes to the ring signature setting

Basing signature schemes on strong lattice problems has been a long standing open issue. Today, two families of lattice-based signature schemes are known: the ones based on the hash-and-sign construction of Gentry et al.; and Lyubashevsky’s schemes, which are based on the Fiat-Shamir framework. In this paper we show for the first time how to adapt the schemes of Lyubashevsky to the ring signature setting. In particular we transform the scheme of ASIACRYPT 2009 into a ring signature scheme that provides strong properties of security under the random oracle model. Anonymity is ensured in the sense that signatures of different users are within negligible statistical distance even under full key exposure. In fact, the scheme satisfies a notion which is stronger than the classical full key exposure setting as even if the keypair of the signing user is adversarially chosen, the statistical distance between signatures of different users remains negligible. Considering unforgeability, the best lattice-based ring signature schemes provide either unforgeability against arbitrary chosen subring attacks or insider corruption in log-sized rings. In this paper we present two variants of our scheme. In the basic one, unforgeability is ensured in those two settings. Increasing signature and key sizes by a factor k (typically 80 − 100), we provide a variant in which unforgeability is ensured against insider corruption attacks for arbitrary rings. The technique used is pretty general and can be adapted to other existing schemes.

Mesenchymal stem cells, neural lineage potential, heparan sulfate proteoglycans and the matrix

Along with the tri-lineage of bone, cartilage and fat, human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) retain neural lineage potential. Multiple factors have been described that influence lineage fate of hMSCs including the extracellular microenvironment or niche. The niche includes the extracellular matrix (ECM) providing structural composition, as well as other associated proteins and growth factors, which collectively influence hMSC stemness and lineage specification. As such, lineage specific differentiation of MSCs is mediated through interactions including cell–cell and cell–matrix, as well as through specific signalling pathways triggering downstream events. Proteoglycans (PGs) are ubiquitous within this microenvironment and can be localised to the cell surface or embedded within the ECM. In addition, the heparan sulfate (HS) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) families of PGs interact directly with a number of growth factors, signalling pathways and ECM components including FGFs, Wnts and fibronectin. With evidence supporting a role for HSPGs and CSPGs in the specification of hMSCs down the osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic lineages, along with the localisation of PGs in development and regeneration, it is conceivable that these important proteins may also play a role in the differentiation of hMSCs toward the neuronal lineage. Here we summarise the current literature and highlight the potential for HSPG directed neural lineage fate specification in hMSCs, which may provide a new model for brain damage repair.

Lattice mixing and vanishing trapdoors : a framework for fully secure short signatures and more

We propose a framework for adaptive security from hard random lattices in the standard model. Our approach borrows from the recent Agrawal-Boneh-Boyen families of lattices, which can admit reliable and punctured trapdoors, respectively used in reality and in simulation. We extend this idea to make the simulation trapdoors cancel not for a specific forgery but on a non-negligible subset of the possible challenges. Conceptually, we build a compactly representable, large family of input-dependent “mixture” lattices, set up with trapdoors that “vanish” for a secret subset which we hope the forger will target. Technically, we tweak the lattice structure to achieve “naturally nice” distributions for arbitrary choices of subset size. The framework is very general. Here we obtain fully secure signatures, and also IBE, that are compact, simple, and elegant.

Archbishops’ chaplain behind bars at last

The sentencing of a self-confessed child sex offender and senior Brisbane Anglican priest Canon Barry Greaves in Brisbane District Court last Friday (April 24, 2009) is a significant event for many reasons and for many people. It is a significant event because Greaves was a priest at Boonah in the early 1980s when he committed the offences and because knowledge of his own sex offending against children failed to deter him from seeking and gaining high office in the Anglican Church. He accepted the position of being an Archbishop’s chaplain to Brisbane Archbishop Dr Peter Hollingworth in 1999. He stayed on as an Archbishop’s chaplain to the incoming Archbishop Dr Phillip Aspinall in 2002 and not even the disgrace of the sex scandal in the Brisbane Diocese resulted in a glimmer of guilt that maybe he was not an appropriate person to be providing pastoral care to other victims of sexual assault. Families of victims who were referred to Greaves for pastoral care are now flabbergasted by the double betrayal. “I went looking for comfort and now I discover I was confiding in a f***ing pedophile,” one woman said.

A coding approach to the multicast stream authentication problem

We study the multicast stream authentication problem when an opponent can drop, reorder and introduce data packets into the communication channel. In such a model, packet overhead and computing efficiency are two parameters to be taken into account when designing a multicast stream protocol. In this paper, we propose to use two families of erasure codes to deal with this problem, namely, rateless codes and maximum distance separable codes. Our constructions will have the following advantages. First, our packet overhead will be small. Second, the number of signature verifications to be performed at the receiver is O(1). Third, every receiver will be able to recover all the original data packets emitted by the sender despite losses and injection occurred during the transmission of information.